Review sites plagued by fakes
IT’S date night, and the thought of feasting on Latin fusion food at Tequila Mockingbird has got your mouth watering.
But if you dive into the opinions offered up on review website Yelp, which launched here two years ago, you may emerge none the wiser about what sort of evening the Christchurch eatery has in store for you.
Amateur reviewers have variously described it as a ‘‘ripoff’’ with snack-sized portions and comically small drinks – or the best dining experience they’ve had since the earthquakes.
In the internet age, you can find online reviews for everything from restaurants and hotels to tradies, and even your old high school chemistry teacher.
Research from the United States suggests most people put a huge amount of trust in online reviews, valuing them almost as highly as personal recommendations from friends.
But that trust is probably misplaced. Another researcher found as many as 30 per cent are fakes. Businesses have been busted logging in under false names to give themselves glowing reviews, or to savage their rivals with one-star attack-pieces.
An entire industry has sprung up to outsource the dirty work, with a host of freelancers offering to write reviews in return for cash.
Last year, a bunch of Kiwi tourism companies got an email offering ‘‘excellent reviews’’ on the TripAdvisor travel website – $97 for six reviews, $197 for 13, or $297 for 20.
Even when there’s no money changing hands, fakes are everywhere. One recent study found one in five Americans left online reviews for products they had never actually bought or used.
Most did so simply because they felt like it, some because they didn’t like the idea of the product, and others so they could write funny reviews.
At least the spoofs are fairly easy to spot. Take the more than 800 Amazon reviews for Haribos’ infamous sugar-free gummi bears – a sample: ‘‘I am going to have to allow this lava from Satan to forcefully expel itself from my innards.’’
But other cons are much trickier to filter out. One study found people had about as much luck picking out fakes as they would flipping a coin.
However, the software screening programs the researchers used managed to spot the frauds 90 per cent of the time.
Thus the first rule of thumb for finding trustworthy online opinions is to stick to websites using good filtering systems.
Yelp spokesman Nick Lembo says the site takes ‘‘a very aggressive stance’’ against planted or paid-for reviews.
The company’s software ‘‘recommends’’ about 75 per cent of submitted reviews, weeding out fakes, bias, or little-known users.
Zomato country manager Kirsty Cardy says the restaurant info and menu company’s tech team uses automatic blockers which monitor swearwords, IP addresses, and certain phrases in submitted reviews.
There’s also a ‘‘neutrality team’’ that looks into complaints of bias or unfair reviews, even reviewing CCTV footage from restaurants.
‘‘If they think it was a rogue neighbour, or ex-wife, or disgruntled competition – anything like that – they can just email the team, and they’ll investigate,’’ says Cardy.
Finally, Zomato employs a community manager who meets up with contributors in the flesh, whose reviews are then given a much higher weighting than anonymous fly-by-nighters.
‘‘We know they’re real people, they’re not out to have a dig at a restaurant,’’ Cardy says.
In December, Italy’s competition watchdog fined TripAdvisor €500,000 (NZ$791,000) for publishing misleading information.
The fine followed a sevenmonth investigation into whether the website was doing enough to avoid publishing false opinions while presenting them as genuine.
However, TripAdvisor spokesman Jai Dattani says the website aggressively fights fraud, with a global team of over 200 specialists investigating red flags thrown up by screening or community reports.
They also conduct proactive investigations to catch would-be fraudsters, using techniques ‘‘similar to those adopted in the credit card and banking sector’’, he says.
No matter how many measures are in place, there will always be some that slip through the net.
That means you need to do your due diligence, and keep your nostrils flared for a whiff of anything fishy.
The simplest strategy is to discard the outliers. There will often be one or two reviews frothing with praise, and the same number spewing pure vitriol.
Cut out anything hopelessly unbalanced, and read the moderate reviews instead.
That’s also a good system for weeding out the reviewers who are genuine, but stupid.
For example: An anonymous TripAdvisor reviewer awarded a measly one star to the Sky Tower in Auckland, explaining: ‘‘I am afraid of heights so didn’t enjoy the experience.’’
Milford Sound was described by Rudyard Kipling as the eighth wonder of the world, but another reviewer also gave the attraction the one-star treatment, saying it was ‘‘nothing to compare with Norway’’ and ‘‘not at all worth the cost’’.
Amateur reviewers ‘‘hiding behind pseudonyms’’ were the target of food writer Lauraine Jacobs’ wrath when she sent a blistering email declining an invitation to a Zomato event.
‘‘Most of the contributors really want their own moment in the sun, or are taking revenge on something or some situation that may have been easily fixed,’’ she
One study found people had about as much luck picking out fakes as they would flipping a coin.
said. But Cardy says Zomato reviews should indeed be taken ‘‘with a grain of salt’’ and for what they are, the sharing of one-off experiences.
‘‘The public is educated enough to know the difference between the reviews they’re reading on Zomato . . . and someone that is qualified, like Lauraine Jacobs,’’ she says.
In fact, Cardy says reviews are only a small part of the website’s purpose, which is more about displaying menus, photos and information.
‘‘There’s just a misconception that we’re a review site, when we’re mostly about search and discovery.’’
When in doubt, and especially for big-ticket purchases, consumers should be sure to get a range of opinions.
TripAdvisor recommends reading a range of reviews.
Check out the profile of the reviewer to see if they’re likely to have similar taste. A five-star review by a young partygoer may not bode well for an older couple looking for a quiet hotel.
Online reviews are a valuable resource, when used wisely. Just be sure to stick to trusted sites, keep your BS detector finely tuned, and take everything you read with a large pinch of salt.